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Six Nations glory in the past – Kiss

Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss insists his players must put March's success in the Six Nations behind them in order to progress.

Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss insists his players must put March's success in the Six Nations behind them in order to progress.

Paul O'Connell's squad have arrived in Argentina to take on a weakened Pumas outfit, with their last runout being the win over France in Paris to seal the title.

There is a hole to fill at outside centre following the retirement of Brian O'Driscoll and Kiss knows that while Ireland should be rightly proud of what they achieved earlier this year, they also have to put it behind them.

“It's nice to know that that's in the past and hopefully it can serve us well going forward,” said Kiss.

“It guarantees you nothing going forward, we've still got to get out there and do the things that make us a team that we are proud of.

“And if we keep doing those things everything is possible.”

Despite Argentina not fielding their more senior European stars including Marcelo Bosch and Juan MartÃ­n FernÃ¡ndez Lobbe, Kiss underlined that those players involved will be vying for selection in The Rugby Championship and for contracts when Super Rugby is expanded.

“This is a good opportunity for our players and if you turn it around there is a lot of opportunities for their guys to put their hands up because it looks like they are going to have a team in the Super 18 or something in the future,” added Kiss.

“That's an opportunity for them to put their hands up now so we know they'll be hungry.

“We have guys that know that Tests are running short leading up to the World Cup so every training session, every meeting, every opportunity to get out there and put the jersey on is important.

“The stakes are getting high in that regard. We hit the ground running this week and got a Test this Saturday, but that's what it is.

“We could possibly lose our way and try and put too much on the players but we'll try and approach it in a way that we put the right things in front of them, and make them aware of what we need to do.

“But we will also put the heat on them to deliver the standards that we have always asked of them.”